If you want to play Driveclub for free, download the PS Plus Edition now

Three months and 11 days after it finally came online, Driveclub PS Plus Edition will drop off the PlayStation Store. The scaled-down version of Evolution Studios' social racing game will remain a free bonus for PlayStation Plus subscribers… but only those who have activated it by October 6.

Sony never explicitly said Driveclub PS Plus Edition would be available on PS4 forever. But I'm still surprised it's going away so soon. It took eight months for Sony and Evolution to get the PS Plus Edition semi-online after Driveclub launched in October 2014 - not to mention how both versions were originally supposed to arrive in PS4's launch window - and now the power windows are closing on Driveclub PS Plus Edition in less than half that time.

Shuhei Yoshida, president of worldwide studios at Sony Computer Entertainment, told Eurogamer that he was happy with how Evolution Studios kept working on Driveclub after its difficult launch, which was plagued by extended connection issues. But he doesn't seem optimistic about keeping the brand's engine running.

"The driving genre's a very difficult market right now," Yoshida said. "The team, we need to find a great angle for the racing to continue, to come up with a new racing game, if we're to look at another racing title. Creative ideas come when things are tough, so that lightbulb moment, I'm looking forward to."